


Love Wasn't Built in a Day!

by myung



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: College AU, EXO - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, M/M, baeksoo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-16 22:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9292766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myung/pseuds/myung
Summary: Maybe Baekhyun was always in love with Kyungsoo, and everything just came crashing down on him at once.





	

The day that Baekhyun takes his final exam of his first semester of senior year is the day he realizes that he’s in love with his best friend.

It’s not so much a startling revelation than it is a simple acknowledgement. Maybe Baekhyun was always in love with Kyungsoo, and everything just came crashing down on him at once.

Baekhyun was sick nearly all exam week with a cold and cough, but he was able to hold out until he made it back to the apartment. 

“Kyungsoo,” he moans as soon as he enters, “Kyungsoo, I don’t feel good.”

“What now?” comes the voice of his exasperated flatmate.

Baekhyun blinks his bleary eyes as his scowling best friend steps out of the kitchen, apron on and spatula in hand, and grins before fainting in the doorway.

The last thing Baekhyun sees in his feverish haze is Kyungsoo’s frown contorting into alarm, and the spatula falling from Kyungsoo’s grasp.

Baekhyun wakes hours later, Kyungsoo at the side of his bed. The shorter man is running his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair and humming a gentle melody. Baekhyun just wants to stare at his best friend forever. Kyungsoo’s mere presence is so warm and comforting and _wow_ , are his eyes always so soft when he looks at Baekhyun?

“Eat that,” Kyungsoo says in his usual brusque way, jutting his chin in the direction of a bowl of hot soup on Baekhyun’s nightstand. “Your fever went down a lot while you were out, so you should be better in no time.”

He crosses his arms and cocks an eyebrow. Baekhyun already misses the feeling of his fingers carding through his hair.

“You should’ve taken medicine! Or at least _told me_ to go get some. Geez, Baekhyun, you don’t take care of your body at all.”

“I was fine,” Baekhyun grumbles, wiggling so he’s further entangled in the puffy blankets Kyungsoo had draped around him. 

“You weren’t _fine_ ,” Kyungsoo bites back. He picks up the bowl of soup and lifts the spoon to Baekhyun’s lips, and the other man begrudgingly opens his mouth. “You passed out as soon as you came in, loser.”

“Well, I know that I’ll always be able to count on my _best friend_ to take care of me,” Baekhyun says, grinning up at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s hand movement stutters, nearly splashing soup onto the blankets. His expression seems shuttered, and Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrow.

“Hey, are you—"

“I have to finish the, uh, food, stuff,” Kyungsoo says, placing the bowl back on the nightstand. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” 

He jerkily stands and hurries out of the room, closing the door behind him with a muted click, leaving Baekhyun concerned and confused.

 

  


Baekhyun’s health improves over the next few days, thanks to Kyungsoo’s cooking and nagging. It’s a wonder that Baekhyun’s ears don’t fall off with all the fussing Kyungsoo does.

“Yes, mom, I took my medicine right after I ate,” Baekhyun drones into his phone, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, Kyungsoo, I’m fine. I have to tutor now so I’m hanging up. See you later.”

“Sunbae, it must be nice to have such a caring boyfriend,” Junghwan, a sophomore struggling with calculus, says wistfully. 

Baekhyun nearly chokes on his own spit.

“Kyungsoo is _not_ my boyfriend, oh my god,” he replies, fanning his warm face. 

“Ah, really? Sorry, sunbae,” Junghwan amends, looking embarrassed. “You just sounded very couple-ish, so I thought—”

“Listen, buddy. Do you want me to start charging you eighty thousand won an hour for tutoring?”

Junghwan pales and immediately clamps his mouth shut.

Baekhyun grins and ruffles the poor kid’s hair. “I’m just kidding, Junghwan. Now, do you remember what we did last week with derivatives? Let’s go over that…”

When Baekhyun arrives back at their apartment later that night, Kyungsoo is ladling creamy tomato sauce over two plates of pasta noodles. He looks up at the sound of the door closing and asks, “What are those?”

Baekhyun holds up the plastic bags and wiggles them a little by the handles. “Ice cream.”

Kyungsoo’s pleased smile is radiant, and Baekhyun can’t help but smile back like the damn Goldfish he is. 

Shit, he’s in so deep.

 

  


“Don’t you think that we’re a little too domestic?” Kyungsoo asks one night during a drama marathon.

“Nah,” Baekhyun replies, popping a potato chip into his mouth. “Why?”

“All of my friends seem to think we’ve got an ‘old married couple’ thing going on,” Kyungsoo says, frowning.

Baekhyun’s traitorous heart skips a beat. “That’s what the kid I tutor thinks, too.”

Kyungsoo laughs awkwardly. “Really? That’s, uh, weird.” 

He looks tense, as if he’s going to bolt into his bedroom. Baekhyun reaches down and squeezes his hand in what he hopes is a reassuring way. Kyungsoo jumps in surprise.

“Gross, you got grease on my thumb,” he grumbles, but doesn’t pull his hand out of Baekhyun’s grasp.

 

  


“Hey, are you feeling alright? You look a little sick,” Chanyeol whispers.

“I’m lovesick,” Baekhyun groans, then immediately regrets opening his mouth.

Chanyeol blinks. “Ooookay, I’m gonna pretend that you didn’t just say that.” He pats Baekhyun on the shoulder and goes back to his research paper, glasses slipping down his nose as he types furiously.

Baekhyun envies him for being able to focus on his work. Even though the cafe is relatively quiet and usually a great study environment, everything reminds him of Kyungsoo, and he can’t think straight. The sunlight streaming into the window is like Kyungsoo’s warm smile, the cheesy indie song softly playing in the background is like every night watching dramas with Kyungsoo, and the pillowy strawberry cake is like being wrapped up in one of Kyungsoo’s rare hugs.

“I’m going crazy,” Baekhyun sighs, letting his head fall onto the table with a dull thud. 

“Seriously, what’s up with you, man? You’ve been acting weird all week,” Chanyeol says, stealing the last bite of cake.

Baekhyun briefly considers the pros and cons of telling Chanyeol that he has a massive, disgusting crush on Kyungsoo, and decides to just go ahead and spill. Everyone is bound to find out eventually, and Baekhyun would rather tell Chanyeol with his own two lips rather than have him hear about it from Jongdae screaming the news all over campus.

“I think I’m, like, _in love_ with Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun whimpers.

Chanyeol fixes him with a blank stare. “Uh, yeah? So?”

“What do you mean, _‘so’_? My life is ruined! And— wait, you’re not freaked out?”

“Of course not. I’m pretty sure even my mom knows that you want to bone Kyungsoo. You’re not that discreet, you know.”

“ _What_?” Baekhyun screeches. “I only _just_ realized my feelings oh my _god_ I can’t believe—”

“Chill, my dude,” Chanyeol says, again patting him on the shoulder. “People are staring and I really don’t want to get kicked out. I like this place.”

“Oh my goood,” Baekhyun moans, head in his hands, “oh my god.”

 

  


If it wasn’t bad enough before, Baekhyun knows that his crush has grown into something too big for him to handle. 

Every time Kyungsoo comes within a foot of him, Baekhyun flinches and lets out an embarrassing squeak. Kyungsoo was concerned at the beginning, but after two weeks of Baekhyun sounding like a rusty door hinge, he snaps.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he grumps one night after Baekhyun moves to the opposite side of the couch instead of sidling up to him. “Do I smell bad or something? Are you so repulsed by my scent that you’ve been avoiding me for weeks? What’s going on?”

“No, you smell delicious— uh, _no_ , I mean, you smell fine and nothing’s wrong,” Baekhyun splutters, turning an unhealthy shade of red. “I’m just… uh… really… stressed?”

“Bullshit,” Kyungsoo snorts, picking up the remote to turn the TV off. “Baekhyun, you’re avoiding me right now even though we’re talking. You won’t look at me.”

Baekhyun hangs his head. He hears the _clunk_ of the remote on the side table followed by Kyungsoo’s sigh.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me,” Kyungsoo says quietly.

Baekhyun lifts his head and looks into his friend’s pleading eyes. His heart beats faster and Baekhyun knows that he _can’t do it_ , knows that there’s no going back if he confesses his feelings. Things won’t ever be the same between them if he opens his mouth, and he doesn’t want to lose Kyungsoo. He doesn’t want to drive his best friend away.

“I can’t tell you,” Baekhyun finally says. “I just… it’ll make everything worse.”

Hurt flashes across Kyungsoo’s face, and Baekhyun cringes at how _terrible_ that sounded.

“No, wait, that’s not what—”

“It’s okay, I get it,” Kyungsoo interrupts, rising from the couch. His smile is pained, yet his voice is so, so gentle. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” 

“Kyungsoo, wait. I didn’t mean to say it like that,” Baekhyun says desperately. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t look convinced, but he gives a small laugh and nods. “It’s okay,” he repeats. “You don’t have to explain. I’m just worried about you.”

He turns and clears his throat. “I’m gonna go to bed,” he continues, voice thick. “I’m kinda tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Baekhyun watches Kyungsoo walk away with dread and regret fighting for the top spot in his imaginary Feelings Competition.

“Good night,” he calls miserably, but the only answer he receives is the defeated click of Kyungsoo’s bedroom door shutting.

He wonders if it’s too late.

 

  


“You’re a fool,” Chanyeol says calmly, taking a sip of his latte. “A goddamn fool.”

“I know, I know,” Baekhyun sighs. “But I’m scared of what he’ll say if I tell him that I—” He looks down into his own cup of coffee. “I don’t want him to hate me.”

“He’s not going to hate you,” Chanyeol says in exasperation, slamming his cup down on the table and garnering alarmed looks from the cashier. “I’ll swear it on my collection of Girls’ Generation posters! Kyungsoo is head-over-heels madly in love with you, and you’ve got your head up his ass 24/7, so it’ll be _fine. Both_ of you are fools.”

“But you can’t be 100% sure that he likes me back,” Baekhyun argues weakly.

Chanyeol gives him an Exasperated Look. “Baekhyun, there’s nothing in life that you can be 100% sure of. You just have to go for it, sometimes.” He swallows a mouthful of latte and adds, “Actually, I lied. I’m 100% sure that you stole that poster of Seohyun I had during TTS’s ‘Twinkle’ era, even though you never admitted it.”

Baekhyun snorts and takes a swig of his too-sweet caramel macchiato. He really needs new friends.

 

  


When Kyungsoo walks through the door, Baekhyun is waiting for him at the dining table.

“Hey,” he says, shifting awkwardly in his seat. “Can we talk? I know it’s been weird the past couple of days, and you deserve an explanation.”

Kyungsoo silently pulls out the chair across from him, and Baekhyun can see a black smear on his cheekbone— probably a pen mark. It makes Kyungsoo even more endearing in Baekhyun’s eyes, and he gives up on trying to wrestle his feelings, because he really is a goner.

“So, uh, I didn’t want to tell you why I was acting so distant from you, because I was afraid you would hate me,” Baekhyun starts slowly. “I’m sorry, Kyungsoo. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was trying to figure out how to get over my feelings… feelings for you.”

He glances up to see Kyungsoo’s eyes widen comically, and Baekhyun cough-laughs into the back of his hand.

“I really, really like you, Kyungsoo. Everything about you,” Baekhyun says quietly. “And I get it if you don’t feel the same way, or don’t want to live with me anymore or something. I just wanted you to know.”

A tear trails down Kyungsoo’s left cheek and Baekhyun rushes over to brush it away in alarm.

“Kyungsoo? Oh man, shit, I’m so sorry, I didn’t—”

“Shut up,” Kyungsoo says thickly, turning his head and sniffling. “Baekhyun, you idiot.”

Baekhyun stands beside him, mouth opening and closing in confusion. He doesn’t really know what to do. Does Kyungsoo want him to comfort him, or no?

“I thought I was being so obvious about it, too,” Kyungsoo continues, eyes brimming with tears. At Baekhyun’s befuddled expression, he groans and says, “Do I have to spell out everything for you, even now? I love you back, Baekhyun. I always have.”

It’s like Kyungsoo’s words have pumped helium into Baekhyun’s heart, because Baekhyun feels like he’s floating.

“For real? Really?” he croaks, kneeling and cradling Kyungsoo’s face in his hands. With some difficulty (Baekhyun’s grip on his cheeks isn’t painful, but it’s no joke, Jesus), Kyungsoo nods.

Laughing softly, Baekhyun leans forward and presses his lips to Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo smiles into the kiss, and Baekhyun can’t help but feel like he’s melting.

“We could’ve been doing this a long time ago,” Baekhyun whines breathlessly when they finally pull apart, lips pink and swollen.

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo laughs, “but we have every day after this to make up for it.”

Baekhyun grins, and kisses Kyungsoo again.

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like irl baeksoo's relationship is: kyungsoo giving baekhyun vanilla pudding but it's actually a dollop of mayo and he cackles as baekhyun chokes
> 
> also this story will be posted on my aff (minhollucinate)


End file.
